UncommonGoods has a unique mission—to connect makers and their creations with individuals looking for truly special goods, regardless of the physical distance between the two. Founded in 1999 and based in Brooklyn, UncommonGoods is a Certified B Corporation that puts sustainability and customer service at the center of everything it does, donating $1 at checkout to the customer’s nonprofit partner of choice through its Better to Give program.
Challenge
UncommonGoods first engaged with project44 it was gearing up for the 2016 holiday season. As a heavily gift-oriented business, two-thirds of UncommonGoods’ revenue is generated in the final quarter of the year. Without brick and mortar stores, the company’s packages act as a virtual storefront—essentially the first physical touchpoint a customer has with the online retailer—making the end user experience that much more important. UncommonGoods knew its customers expected visibility into where their packages were at any given time, and was on the hunt for a solution that would help deliver that experience.
Solution
In November 2016, UncommonGoods launched project44’s product for customer visibility, communication and proactive exception management, and the retailer has since used the platform to deliver some truly proactive and exceptional customer experiences.
Now when an order ships, the customer receives an email with a tracking link, which takes them to a mobile-optimized, branded page on the project44 platform. Behind the scenes, project44 integrates and translates all the carrier information so customers can watch and understand what is happening as the shipment progresses. They can sign up for text messages and exception emails, rate the experience and submit feedback to the UncommonGoods team, click back to FAQs, and in some cases place additional orders through special promotional offers.
Early knowledge of customer feedback and shipment issues like delays, incorrect addresses or damaged shipments has given the UncommonGoods team more time to proactively correct problems rather than ruin an important anniversary or holidays with a late shipment.
Results
01
12% of shoppers subscribe to SMS notifications
02
54% leave feedback before delivery
03
6% CTR to the website from the tracking page
04
Demand planning increased ability to plan for CSR staffing needs with greater visibility into issues
05
CSR Onboarding optimized by only needing to learn one system with standardized exceptions across multiple carrier websites and languages
With project44, we’ve got a unified experience that feels like it’s all coming from UncommonGoods regardless of carrier. That unifying experience is one of best benefits for the customer. We can try new things and new carriers and the customer gets a consistent experience—all branded in one place. Customers really appreciate being in the loop, and alerted when there’s an unforeseen delay. Rather than causing them to be angry, often UncommonGoods looks like the hero because we’re being so proactive. project44 really shines on the operational side. We see the delivery date as a promise, and the project44 platform is key to us being able to be keep it.
MC Halfpenny
Director of Operations, UncommonGoods
